[OPINION] An open letter to Risa Hontiveros on her 60th birthday

It’s your birthday today, February 24, and as a friend, I suppose I am allowed to say cheesy stuff about you today. To shoot from the hip and put away my political scientist hat. To speak as a friend, as a citizen, as a comrade, as a kabaro — not as an academic that has to be careful with her every word. Just for today. Because it’s your birthday.  

Ambisyosa ka raw, Ris. Gustong gusto mo raw maging presidente. Hehe, kung alam lang nila that all you want to do is go back to music and theater and that the dream — our dream — is to visit each other and grow old together: you in the South, me in the North — preferably by the beach. And whenever possible, to visit Aggie (our kabarkada) who is thousands of miles away.  

We’ve known each other since we were in our 20s. We are now in our 60s, Ris!  We have nothing else to prove to the world, or to ourselves. We are no longer shackled by cultural impositions.  That stereotype of a woman ready for the highest public office as “ambisyosa”? That’s just another cultural imposition. It has no basis at all in empirical reality. 

Hindi ka raw puwedeng presidential candidate ng oposisyon sa 2028 kasi hindi ka raw winnable, etc., etc.  Nakakatawa! These past three to four years, ikaw ‘yung pinaka mukha ng oposisyon. Ikaw ang nakipag bardagulan — nang harap harapan — kay Digong at Sara Duterte, kay Alice Guo, kay Quiboloy, sa mga POGO, sa gobyerno ng Tsina — and then now, all of a sudden, you are not enough and you are not winnable. 

The funnier thing is, it’s your opposition allies that suggest this. As if the concept of an opposition has suddenly taken on a new, different meaning — just because it’s nearing election time. The opposition leader is now someone who can “catch all.”

I know you have said that you will work for a common candidate for the opposition.  But there’s no opposition, Ris. There are only opposition leaders. So, let a thousand flowers bloom.  Magkaalaman na:  Ano ba talaga ang hinahanap ng taong bayan sa susunod na administrasyon?  Kung iba iba ang tingin natin na nararapat, so be it! That would still be a democracy.  And no election is pre-determined so it can be anyone’s ball game. Enough already with a unified opposition whose basis of unity is not even observable.  

As your friend, I want you to say no. Let’s just enjoy life in our last few decades (sana umabot naman ng dekada, hindi lang taon hehe). Let’s go watch the sunset every day, by the beach.  

As your comrade, I want to tell you that you can fight this and that it will be worth it. Sayang ang pinaghirapan mo at ng kilusan, Ris, kung ngayon ka pa aatras. Kung ngayon pa tayo aatras (siyempre, collective action nga, di ba; hindi naman namin naiisip ikaw lang ang lalaban dito — or that the fight is about you;  this is bigger than any of us). And it will just be six years. 

You are ready to govern, Ris. But I think (and I am sure that many will agree) that the next administration, first and foremost, must reflect the collective anger of our people at corrupt, unaccountable governance and unjust social structures.  

The next administration must not just be “mahusay” or “malinis” or “mabait,”  it must be goddamn angry — and it must show that justified anger can be a powerful force for the common good. A goddamn different kind of angry. Not the “putang ina ‘nyo, I will kill you all” of the Dutertes but the “putang ina, walang hari hari o reyna reyna dito” of the mass movements we grew up with.  

I know you. I know you can’t even say putang ina. That’s just not you. The most I’ve heard from you is a whisper into my ear: “Excuse me Melay, pero putang ina nila.” But I also know that your tit for tat with Inday Sara and Digong, your having Alice Guo and Quiboloy arrested, your getting the POGO closed down, and now your work for the anti-dynasty law and party-list reform law — that is your putang ina moment. Moments. Plural. Unfortunately, Pinoys want the malutong na putang ina — also because the PH governance problem has become so grave that a literal, malutong na putang ina will not even begin to accurately describe its gravity.  

You are our president, Ris. You are enough. And who is my Vice President? Vice Ganda. You know me, I am not a fan of celebrity politics but I concede that in certain moments, it takes a celebrity to galvanize public conversation and mobilization. While you have worked to address our collective disgust in Congress and the Senate, Vice Ganda has verbalized it in the arena of public opinion. And she comes across as someone who knows what she’s talking about — what she’s cursing about. And she’s not the “putang ina I will kill you all” kind of angry.  

Together, you two can genuinely reflect where our nation is right now: so goddamn angry and at the same time, so raring to do something to make the anger go away and to make things better; to right the wrongs. And you two can challenge the anger of the Dutertes and show that there is a more positive kind of anger.  

Forget the Marcoses. Forget the Dutertes. Forget the Tulfos. Or the Remullas. Or the Marcoletas. Or the Robinhoods.  

RISA HONTIVEROS FOR PRESIDENT!

VICE GANDA FOR VICE PRESIDENT! 

Just think about it.  Ika nga, libre naman ang mangarap.  

Happy 60th birthday, Ris.  Always remember: With or without the public stage, you are enough. You have always been enough.  

Good luck with that sponsorship speech on the anti-dynasty bill.  – Rappler.com

Carmel V. Abao is associate professor at the Department of Political Science, Ateneo de Manila University.